Owl Women Surge to the Lead at NEISDA Meet

NORTH DARTMOUTH, MASS. 2/16/08 - Keene State College surged to the lead following the second day of events at the 2008 New England Intercollegiate Women's Swimming and Diving Championships (NEISDA) at UMass-Dartmouth's Tripp Center pool on Saturday.

Keene State has racked up 642 points to lead defending champ Bentley College (630 points). The Owls are looking for their first New England Division II-III title since 2001.

The Owls began the day in fine fashion by capturing the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Kelly Yankowski (Turners Falls, Mass.), Kristine Trutor (Holden, Mass.), Alea Paddock (Newbury, N.H.), and Rachel Mondello (Stoneham, Mass.) posted a winning time of 1:51.07.

Trutor continued to be a force winning the 50 fly (26.07) and the 100 back (59.84).

Mondello was third in the 50 fly (27.19).

Jackie Foster (Bedford, N.H.) also had a big day taking second in the 200 free (1:55.83). Katie Allenson (Clifton Park, N.Y.) was sixth with a time of 2:05.26.

In other races, Paddock took second in the 400 IM (4:45.97) Jessica Laidley (Brockton, Mass.) and Alison Valenti (Cheshire, Conn.) finished third (1:05.21) and fourth (1:11.94) respectively in the 1,000 free.

Keene State sophomore Chelsea Peruccio (Glastonbury, Conn.) was fifth in one-meter diving with 350.50 points.

The Owl team of Paddock, Laidley, Allenson and Foster completed the day with a second place performance in the 800 freestyle relay.

The three day meet concludes on Sunday.